Fuse clip assembly



y 16, 1961 L. w. JACOBS 2,984,723

FUSE CLIP ASSEMBLY Filed Nov. 20, 1959 IN VEN TOR LEWIS W. dAcoas,

United States Patent-O FUSE CLIP ASSEMBLY Lewis W. Jacobs, WestHartford, Conn., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation ofNew York Filed Nev. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 854,440

7 Claims. or. 200-413 This invention relates to fuse clips and moreparticularly to reinforced fuse clips having manually operable meansprovided for ejecting a cartridge fuse therefrom.

The present invention employs two principal concepts, each of whichsingly has been generally familiar in the art. The first of theseconcepts involves the employment of auxiliary reinforcing means appliedto a fuse clip to lend increased strength to it to avoid loss ofresilience of the fuse clip in use and to insure positive contactpressure on a fuse ferrule inserted therein. The second concept involvesthe use of a lever-like fuse extractor in combination with the fuse clipto aid in removing a blown fuse therefrom for the substitution of a newfuse. In reinforced fuse clips it is particularly advantageous to havesome provision for aiding the removal of fuses because of the increasedfrictional force exerted on the fuse ferrule, tending to impede suchremoval. Nevertheless, the employment of reinforcing means and fuseextracting arrangements have in the past been carried out independentlyof one another with independent and separable means for each purpose.

It is an object of this invention to provide a reinforced ejector fuseclip of a convenient and simple form in which the elements employed forthe reinforcement of the clip and for the removal of the fuse from theclip cooperate with each other to reduce the total number of partsrequired.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a combination of areinforcing member and fuse ejector which may be readily assembled on anexisting fuse clip either at the time of its manufacture or at any timethereafter,

By way of a brief summary of a preferred embodiment of this invention, afuse clip of a generally conventional U-shaped form is provided having abase portion adapted to be mounted on a mounting surface and a pair ofcontact arms bowed to accept a cylindrical fuse ferrule therebetween.The upper end of the bowed arms are flared outwardly somewhat to easethe insertion of a fuse ferrule. Backing up the sheet metal fuse clipsis a reinforcing member preferably of spring material and generally of aU-shape conforming to the shape of the fuse clip. The end portions ofthe reinforcing member terminate in spaced fingers situated within theconcave outer surfaces of the flared outer portions of the reinforcingmember. The fuse ejector is provided in the form of a lever shaped ofspring wire stock looped about the bottommost portion of the reinforcingmember and rotatable thereabout. The combination of the reinforcingmember and fuse ejector thus constitutes, in a preferred embodiment, anefiicient assembly comprising but two easily fashioned parts readilyassembled on an existing fuse clip.

Further objects of this invention as well as additional details andadvantages will be more clearly perceived with reference to thefollowing more detailed description taken together with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a pair of fuse clip assemblies,

2,984,723 Patented May 16, 1961 one of which is constructed inaccordance with this invention, and showing a cartridge fuse insertedtherein;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the reinforcing member and the fuseejector shown inFig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view partly in section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 shows a pair of fuse clips 11 and 12 having a cartridge fuse 13inserted therein. The fuse has cylindrical ferrules 14 and 15 at eachend which are inserted within the fuse clips. The fuse clips aretherefore formed generally in the shape of a U with two arms bowedoutwardly to conform to the outer configuration of the ferrules. Theouter ends of the two arms of each fuse clip are, however, curved in areverse direction at 16 to give them an outward flare, thereby to easethe insertion of the fuse ferrule. Each fuse clip has at one side bentover lugs 17 and 18 to prevent the insertion of larger fuses than shouldbe inserted and to prevent properly rated fuses from slipping out theends of the fuse clips. The fuse clips are attached at their baseportions '19 and 20 by threaded members 21, or otherwise as desired, toelectrically conductive terminals 22 and 23 which provide mounting meansand terminal means for connection of the fuse in a circuit to beprotected.

Reinforcement for the fuse clip 11 is provided by a onepiece reinforcingmember 26 of spring wire generally in the shape of a U as best seen inFig. 2. This reinforcing member conforms in shape to the fuse clip inorder not to interfere with the insertion of removal of fuses andterminates in a pair of spaced-apart fingers 22 and 23 which embrace theconcave outer surfaces of the outwardly flared portions 16 at the top ofthe fuse clip. Since the reinforcing member is of spring material with apredetermined set to it, it exerts a strong bias to back up the fuseclip and to provide increased contact pressure on the fuse ferrule.Although the ends of the spaced-apart arms of the reinforcing member arethus situated on the outside, as it were, of the fuse clip, the bight orcross portion 29 of this U-shaped member is bent backwardly between thespaced-apart arms of the fuse clip. Fuse clip 12 is also provided with areinforcing member 25 generally similar in shape to the reinforcingmember 26, but this element by itself is not the subject matter of thepresent invention.

In the preferred embodiment shown the one-piece ejector lever 30 is alsoformed of wire spring material and is bent double to form twoco-extensive portions 31 and 3 2. These two portions are loosely loopedat 33 and 34 about opposite ends of the bight portion 29 of thereinforcing member 26 to pivot thereon. One end of the lever forms aconvenient handle 35 for manipulation of the lever while the other endwith its outwardly bent lugs 35 is positioned to bear against and exertforce upon fuse ferrule M to eject it from the clip. By forming the fuseejecting lever of two co-extensive portions as shown, the relativerelationships of the parts are maintained and the lever is preventedfrom slipping around and off the ends of the reinforcing member 26. Thecombination of a reinforcing member and a fuse ejector as shown in Fig.2 may obviously be assembled easily on a fuse clip of the type shown inFig. 1 at any time, even after the fuse clip has been mountedpermanently in a piece of electrical equipment. Once on the fuse clip itprovides extra contact pressure to establish good contact fidelitybetween the clip and a fuse ferrule inserted therein. To remove the fusefrom its clip all that is required is to exert a downward force on thefuse handle 35 as shown in Fig. 1, whereupon the opposite end of thefuse ejecting lever will force the fuse ferrule up and out of the clip.The fuse 13 and the fuse ejecting lever 30 will then occupy thepositions shown in broken lines in Fig. 1. Since the fuse ejecting leveris in the nature of a torsion spring, its resilience allows the lever toflex somewhat, permitting the application of maximum ejecting forces forthe short distance traveled while avoiding the possibility that thelever might fracture in use.

Although I have illustrated but one preferred embodiment to illustratethis invention certain variations in form will doubtless occur to thoseskilled in the art to which this invention pertains. For example,although the fuse clips shown are of a type adapted to receivecylindrical fuse ferrules, they might also be adapted to receive bladetype fuse terminals as well. I therefore intend to cover by thefollowing claims all such variations as fall within the true spirit andscope of this invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A fuse clip assembly comprising: a U-shaped clip of sheet metal forengaging and frictionally retaining a fuse element inserted therein; areinforcing spring member having a pair of spaced arms embracing saidclip and a bight portion joining said arms; and an ejector lever pivotedon said bight portion for ejecting a fuse element inserted in said clip.

2. A fuse clip assembly comprising: a U-shaped clip of sheet metalhaving a base portion and a pair of contact arms for engaging andfrictionally retaining a fuse element therebetween; a reinforcing springmember conforming to the shape of said clip comprising a bight portionadjacent the base portion of said clip and a pair of resilient armsembracing and reinforcing the contact arms of said clip; and an ejectorlever pivoted on said bight portion for ejecting a fuse element insertedwithin said clip.

3. A fuse clip assembly comprising: a U-shaped clip of sheet metalhaving a base portion and a pair of contact arms for engaging andfrictionally retaining a fuse element therebetween; a one-piecereinforcing wire spring element generally in the shape of a U with abight portion adjacent the base portion of said clip and a pair ofresilient arms embracing and reinforcing the contact arms of said clip;and a one-piece ejector lever of wire spring material looped about thebight portion of said reinforcing element to pivot thereon and having atone end a handle and at the other end a force exerting portion forbearing against and ejecting a fuse element inserted within said clip.

4. A fuse clip assembly comprising: a U-shaped clip of sheet metalhaving a base portion and a pair of contact arms for engaging andfrictionally retaining a fuse element therebetween; a one-piecereinforcing wire spring element generally in the shape of a U with abight portion adjacent the base portion of said clip and a pair ofresilient arms embracing and reinforcing the contact arms of said clip;and a one-piece ejector lever of Wire spring material bent double toform two co-extensive parts, said parts being looped about the bightportion of said reinforcing member at opposite ends thereof to pivotthereon, one end of said lever forming a manually operable handle, andthe other end of said lever being positioned to bear against and eject afuse element inserted within said clip.

5. A reinforcing fuse ejector assembly for application to a fuse clipwhich has a base portion and a pair of contact arms for engaging andfrictionally retaining a fuse element inserted therein comprising: areinforcing spring member having a pair of spaced arms for embracingsaid clip and a bight portion joining said arms; and an ejector leverpivoted on said bight portion for ejecting a fuse element insertedwithin said clip.

6. A reinforcing fuse ejector assembly for application to a fuse clipwhich has a base portion and a pair of contact arms for engaging andfrictionally retaining a fuse element inserted therein comprising: aone-piece reinforcing wire spring element generally in the shape of a Uwith a bight portion for mounting adjacent the base portion of said clipand a pair of resilient arms for em bracing and reinforcing the contactarms of said clip; and a one-piece ejector lever of wire spring materiallooped about the bight portion of said reinforcing element to pivotthereon and having at one end a manually operable handle and at theother end a force exerting portion for bearing against and ejecting afuse element inserted within said clip.

7. A reinforcing fuse ejector assembly for application to a fuse clipwhich has a base portion and a pair of contact arms for engaging andfrictionally retaining a fuse element inserted therein comprising: aone-piece reinforcing wire spring element generally in the shape of a Uwith a bight portion for mounting adjacent the base portion of said clipand a pair of resilient arms for embracing and reinforcing the contactarms of said clip; and a one-piece ejector lever of wire spring materialbent double to form two co-extensive parts, said parts being loopedabout the bight portion of said reinforcing member at opposite endsthereof to pivot thereon, one end of said lever forming a manuallyoperable handle, and the other end being positioned to bear against andeject a fuse element inserted within said clip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,983,281 Fries et al. Dec. 4, 1934 2,004,314 Dante June 11, 19352,004,328 Johansson June 11, 1935

